Clik here to view.
Drum Circles, and other random thoughts
My last Instagram photo. :cue taps: Last night I went to a solstice celebration. We arranged ourselves in a circle and one by one we walked up to an altar and lit a candle. Then we took a percussion...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Realm of Hungry Ghosts
Buddhism’s Wheel of Life A friend from my local sangha requested that I write a blog post about something I mentioned at our meeting last week regarding the Realm of the Hungry Ghosts. I am new to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Clik here to view.
On becoming a Buddhist (thinking outloud)
English: The enso, a symbol of Zen Buddhism (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The other day I finally made it into a popular bookstore in Portland, New Renaissance. It’s a really cool place, full of what some...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Choose love.
I’ve mentioned before that I am going through the exercises in the book “How to Train a Wild Elephant & other adventures in mindfulness” with my meditating friends. Some of the exercises have been...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Day two of being complaint free
Ok I’ll admit that I have already failed at being complaint free in the past 24 hours. I have had to start over countless times. I made the unfortunate decision to embark on this adventure the week I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
So. I am going to do this tomorrow evening…
I have decided to go through a Jukai ceremony. Otherwise known as “taking the precepts.” Otherwise known as (according to Wikipedia) the Buddhist Initiation ritual. One person asked if this was like a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Right Action
“Even if the whole Universe is all a bunch of jerks doing jerk-type things, there’s still liberation in simply not being a jerk.” – Dogen I love the Brad Warner translation of Dogen. It actually makes...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Article 1
“Do not indulge anger – cultivate equanimity. In the realm of the selfless dharma, not contriving reality for the self is the precept of not indulging anger. Not advancing, not retreating, not real,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I am a seeker
I am going through a term student program at my sangha and our first retreat was a week ago. Those of us attending had to prepare a presentation about ourselves. In preparation for this presentation we...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Give it away, Now.
A few days ago someone shared an article at The Onion about a Buddhist extremist cell threatening to unleash peace and tranquility on the West. Being both Buddhist and a fan of satire, I thought it...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mandala
My Term Student Mandala I went through a Term Student program at my Sangha this past Fall. This is, simply, a period of time when you focus a bit more intensely on your practice. I learned so much...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Article 1
“Understanding someone’s suffering is the best gift you can give another person. Understanding is love’s other name. If you don’t understand, you don’t love.” – Thich Nhat HanhFiled under: Random...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Thoughts on kindness
The zen center I belong to is going through precepts study at the moment, so I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about them lately. During this study period you are supposed read them every morning and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
On becoming a vegetarian. Again.
I thought for today’s post it would be interesting to take a look at what I was doing 10 years ago. It seems crazy that I can do this on my blog. It is more than 10 years old at this point! 10 years...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mandala
A couple of weeks ago I attended the last retreat of this year’s Term Student program at my zen center. Since I shared the mandala from the last one, I thought I would also share this one, too. These...
View ArticleClik here to view.
the battle with fear
“Once there was a young warrior. Her teacher told her that she had to do battle with fear. She didn’t want to do that. It seemed too aggressive; it was scary; it seemed unfriendly. But the teacher...
View ArticleClik here to view.
On being goal less
Last night at my meditation group I got in a discussion about goalless practice. This is a Zen thing – the idea that the state you are in at this moment is perfect and goals imply that you are...
View ArticleClik here to view.
On being hope less
I wrote this a month ago and have been sitting on it, hesitant to post it in the days leading up to Christmas because I didn’t think that a post on hopelessness would be appropriate. But now that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cultivate Love
This morning, my friend Marisa shared on Twitter this fascinating article (written in 2013 at the Atlantic) about love. It’s title is “There’s No Such Thing As Everlasting Love.” But I think the title...
View Article
